


Freedom's Wing

by Mel_eficent



Series: Gay Pirate AU [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pirates, Eremin Week II, M/M, Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 18:01:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1657409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mel_eficent/pseuds/Mel_eficent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The frayed hemp rope slid from sweaty fingers and snaked across the deck, hissing as it dragged along the wooden beams. Counterweights reeled and rose as white wings billowed and unfurled. They shot forward, beginning to soar across the boundless blue, and Eren knew for an instant what it felt like to fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freedom's Wing

**Author's Note:**

> It's that time of year again, EREMIN WEEK! Not content to just sit and spectate this time around, I decided to write something for the occasion, I know it doesn't really fit with the prompt but come on, it's pirates!  
> This is the first fic I've posted to ao3 so please comment or contact me at my tumblr [Eremine](http://www.eremine.tumblr.com/) ask and let me know what you think, all concrit is welcome!

“Ship sighted Captain!” The call bellowed down from the Crow’s Nest, “Port bow!”  
  
Marco had the sharpest pair of eyes this side of Florida; no ship, rock, or sandbar could escape his sight. Eren turned his head as directed, gazing out over the great expanse of sapphire around them. Marco was right, Eren thought, spying the tiniest speck on the horizon, the man truly had a gift. The familiar sound of boot-falls on wooden planks filled Eren’s ears, making him smile. A shadow fell over him, and he turned. There his captain stood, golden hair glowing the sun, eyes as blue as the ocean before them. He stood at attention, legs shoulder-width apart and back straight, you could almost doubt he ever left the navy, almost.  
“Class?” Armin responded after a moment, carefully calculating his next move. His face betrayed no hint of excitement or anticipation, but Eren knew his friend was brimming with glee.  
  
“Brig! 50 metres! Merchant vessel!” Marco looked down to his captain, a smirk on his lips, “She’s flying English colours Captain.”  
  
At that, his grim façade broke, a crack appearing in the form a smile. Armin strode forward from his place at the stern to the railing slowly and methodically, revelling in every step. The wind played with the frayed ends of his faded, cobalt overcoat as he stopped, looking down over his crew.  
  
“Gentlemen!” he called, that same essence of regality returning to his voice. Eren didn’t quite understand it, but there was something in that voice that could inspire him; rouse him into fervent loyalty, believe what he was told so deeply, causing him to hang on every word. That was more so than a hundred British officers ever could. The crew turned from their posts to observe their captain.  
  
“Two years ago, our most illustrious monarch King George sought to reward our fine years of service to him, our brave and valiant efforts against the Spanish, with swift and immediate deportation!” The crew erupted into jeers and angry cries, all posts abandoned in favour of Armin’s speech.  
  
“Did he truly believe that after seeing the wonders these West Indies had to offer, that we would simply comply and fall back in line with nary a word of protest?” Armin began to loosen up, throw his hands about; he was beginning to enjoy himself. His enthusiasm was met with a raucous cry of “NO!” from his crowd of disciples.  
  
“You cannot free a lion when it suits you only to make return to its cage! I think we’ve earned a little compensation for our service, don’t you?”  
  
“YES!” The crew shouted back.  
  
“A Little respect?”  
  
“YES!”  
  
“A little…” he paused rubbing his fingers together “Reward?”  
  
“YES!”  
  
“Then come on lads! Let’s go show good ole Georgie where he can shove his declaration!” As roars and cheers of agreement rose up, Eren couldn’t help but feel proud of the man his friend had become. Armin turned to Eren still at the wheel, a fond, familiar smile on his lips. “Helmsman, take us in!”  
  
Eren returned the grin, full of confidence and eagerness. “Aye Captain!” he called.  
  
He wrapped his fingers around the smooth, sanded wood of the spokes and spun the wheel. The ship cantered to the left as all around him came alive; crewmen racing back and forth across the deck, clambering up and down the rigging as shouts of ‘hard to Port!’ and ‘full sail!’ filled the air. Eren closed his eyes for a moment, letting it all sink in; the clamour, the chaos of it all. Sunlight shone down and warmed his skin, the wind tousled and pulled at his hair as if it were an old friend, and the smell and taste of salt was ripe on his lips and in his nostrils. For the first time in the longest time, Eren truly felt alive.  
  
He did not need to be told anything further on the matter of their approach; he knew what Armin wanted him to do. They never attacked a ship head on, at this distance they would see them coming from miles off, and the all too familiar, distressed cries of ‘PIRATES!’ would fill the air. If there was anything between them, like a small island or rock formation, they would use it as cover; swinging around and catching them on the other side, a manoeuvre Eren was crazy enough to attempt. But no, in open water like this they had other strategies. _Freedom’s Wing ___may have been a bit on the small side, but none could match her for speed with the wind at their back; so it was the wind they used to their advantage, coming in slow keeping their distance, then letting the sails fly as soon as there was no chance of escape. At least that was stage one of the plan.  
  
“Crewman Springer, hoist the colours if you please” Armin called down to the skinhead man below.  
  
“Aye Captain!” was the response, and a mock, tattered Union Jack slowly rose up the flagpole. Up close it wouldn’t fool anyone, but at this distance… it just might.  
  
“Take your positions!” the men and women under Armin’s command scuttled like crabs, “Ready the mainsail! Prepare the cannons!”  
  
Eren’s heart began to quicken, and he knew Armin could feel it too, that same buzzing feeling the two felt right before their next raid. “Steady,” Armin called as eager hands fumbled against coils of rope, “steady… Loose!”  
  
The frayed hemp slid from sweaty fingers and snaked across the deck, hissing as it dragged along the wooden beams. Counterweights reeled and rose as white wings billowed and unfurled. They shot forward, beginning to soar across the boundless blue, and Eren knew for an instant what it felt like to fly.  
  
“Movement on deck! They’ve spotted us!” came Marco’s voice, one eye still attached to his spyglass.  
  
“Then we haven’t a moment to spare,” the golden haired captain turned to his strike team, already fastening lifelines to their waists “Mikasa, Jean, Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt, Sasha, Connie, you know what to do.”  
  
With an affirmative nod from the raven haired piratess, they began to climb the mast. This was the next stage of Armin’s plan; while Eren circled around them, firing cannons and keeping them distracted, the seven best swordsmen (and women) would climb up into the rigging and, when they were close enough, drop down and strike the enemy captain and neutralise the cannons. Any soldier done soiling their trousers after that display would soon throw down their arms and surrender; then the pirates would make off with their spoilers and King George’s lapdogs would get to keep their pathetic lives.  
  
The whole deck was alive, buzzing, crackling with anticipation as the faces of the other crew became visible. They seemed to regard _Freedom’s Wing _with some bemusement, but remained for the most part uninterested. It was all Armin could do not to scream, Eren could see it in face; jaw tightened, lips scrunched, brow furrowed. But he waited, waited until they were right alongside and…__  
  
“ **FIRE!** ”  
Time seemed to slow as the lit fuse burned and disappeared into barrel, then everything shook. Eren was almost thrown off his feet as the ship careened violently. Fire and thunder spewed forth from the maw of the cannons, air filling with thick black smoke and sulphur. Ears still ringing, Eren turned in time to see shot rip through wood, sending chunks of mast and a barrage of splinters raining down. Cheers erupted from his friends as the other crew stagged around looking shell-shocked and mortified. Eren spun the wheel to Port, sails all but disappearing as they flew around circling the enemy ship.  
He saw from the corner of his eye, his sister make the leap from sail yard to sail yard, the others following suit soon after. He permitted himself to smile as the cannons were loaded again.  
  
Today, he thought, would be a good day.

***

“Quartermaster, you have the deck,” Armin said, walk almost march-like in nature as he approached the side of the ship, “Get her back to New Providence safely, we’ll meet you there in a few days.”  
  
Jean stood there bewildered; slack jawed, eyes wide, “You’re just gonna leave?”  
  
“You heard the captain” Eren said chuckling, slapping Jean on the shoulder as he passed by him, “Oh, and try not to scratch the paint.”  
  
Jean’s disbelief soon turned to anger, clenching his fist and growling at the Helmsman as he and the blond captain stepped over the side. Slowly, their two-man sailboat lowered down into the calm water, waves lapping lightly against the hull. Within a few moments the sails were unfurled and the little vessel began speeding away towards the horizon, the sun dipping its toes into the ocean blue. The distant singing of ‘ _I dreamed a dream, the other night. Lowlands! Lowlands away! __’ could be heard sailing on the wind from _Freedom’s Wing_ ’s crew as they began to work, soon fading away entirely._  
  
As the sun at last took the plunge into the golden water, night fell over the ocean and the one-mast sailboat upon it. It arrived at its destination not long after; a tiny island, little more than a sandbar peppered with shrubs and palm trees. But to the two boys it meant sanctuary, a little Eden just for the two of them. On that beach, a fire crackled between them; waves washed over the shore, and the stars above began to twinkle like diamonds.  
  
“I propose a toast,” Eren said, raising his bottle of tinted glass, “To the spoils of victory.”  
  
The other laughed breathlessly, chinking his bottle with his friend’s; but while Eren took a hearty swig, Armin simply looked down the neck at the treacle liquid in his hands. “Do you still remember our first prize? That tiny little schooner sailing by Port-au-Prince?”  
  
“How could I forget?” Eren chuckled, “the thing barely had any cargo on board, but we thought we were richer than kings.”  
  
“I remember,” Armin smiled before clearing his throat, “‘Look Armin! Real silk! Think how much this must be worth!’”  
  
“Oh?” Eren gasped in disbelief, “and what about you? ‘Eren! We could buy a whole galleon with this much paprika!’”  
  
At that the two began to laugh, long and hard, until their chests burned and their sides ached; eventually falling back on the soft sand gasping for breath. They sucked in mouthfuls of air; gulped it down, chests heaving, then they gulped down the rum. It was sweet and smooth, Armin thought, warm as it settled in his stomach and peppered a blush across his cheeks. “We’ve come a long away in two years.”  
  
“We have,” Eren returned, eyeing him softly from across the fire, a faint smile on his lips “thanks to you.”  
  
When he heard this, Armin’s smile faded and his face fell. He turned away from his friend, brow furrowed and frowning. Nothing was said for a time, an uneasy silence filling the air before Eren spoke up.  
  
“Hey, you Ok?” He asked, concern written in his turquoise eyes.  
  
Armin was not Ok. Eren knew, he could see it all over his face. He was uneasy, eyes darted around, flitting back and forth, and lips pressed together in discomfort. Eren knew Armin better than he knew himself; he what every little phrase, gesture, and expression meant, and he knew this one most of all. Doubt.  
  
“Uh-I just-” Armin voice was weak, soft like a mouse, “I just can’t believe everyone has so much faith in me, I mean… I’m nothing special; I don’t deserve all the praise you’re giving me.”  
  
“Armin, of course you do! You’re brilliant!”  
  
Armin sheepishly looked back to his friend across the fire, hair glowing orange from the light it gave off. “You’re just saying that.”  
  
“I’m not, I’m serious Armin!” Eren walked stood and walked over to him, taking the blond’s smooth, pale hands in his calloused ones, “Did you see yourself out there today? You were brilliant! You took that whole ship by surprise without losing a single man, destroying a single piece of cargo, and without killing a single innocent person!”  
  
“That wasn’t me,” Armin sighed, “You’re the one who sailed the ship, Mikasa and Jean and the others all avoided the collateral damage, Marco spotted the ship; I just stand around giving orders, I can’t…” He trailed of, voice beginning to croak, “I can’t do anything.”  
  
“Bullshit you can’t!” Eren exclaimed, as if Armin’s remark personally offended him, “None of that would’ve been possible without you! And what about all the times you’ve saved us, huh? What about your plan of using the bombardment as cover from escaping Kingston? Or when you stole a Royal Navy officer’s outfit and convinced that firing squad not to shoot Mikasa and me? Or that attacking that plantation was the best way to get plunder, gain some of our best crewman, _and ___strike a blow to the British Slave Trade?”  
  
Eren quieted his voice, moving a little closer and looked deeply into Armin’s eyes, “What about when we were kids, and you sent for help when I ran off into the streets filled with burning houses? You’ve saved mine and Mikasa’s lives so many times, you’ve saved the crew’s lives, kept us all from starving or getting captured or turning on each other, you’re the reason we came out here in the first place.”  
  
Armin finally began to smile, a tiny smile in the corner of his mouth, “You really think so?”  
  
“Armin,” Eren almost whispered, cupping the blond’s cheeks as their noses pressed together, “I would follow you to the end of the earth, and I’d storm the entire British Armada to get you back.”  
  
Eren leaned in and pressed his mouth to Armin’s. The kiss was chaste and gentle, but deep, neither one wanting to let go. They broke only for an instant before coming together again, Armin’s eyes fluttering shut. Eren ran his hands against the soft skin of his cheek to the back of his neck, burying his fingers in Armin’s golden hair. Armin curled his splayed his hands against the coarse fabric of Eren’s tunic, taking a fistful before pulling him closer, until Armin was on his back. Eren dragged his tongue across Armin’s smooth lip, sending a shiver down his spine. His tongue was a hot presence in his mouth; he was clumsy and overbearing, and he tasted like salt and rum, but the kiss was twice as intoxicating.  
  
They laid there for a time, limbs intertwined, stealing glances, simply enjoying the quiet and intimacy. Armin rested his head on Eren’s shoulder; lazily running is fingers down Eren’s chest, the cool sand against his back like a soft pillow in the humid mire of the air. He moved his head to rest on Eren’s chest, eliciting a small groan from the other boy. Armin giggled, nuzzling against the other’s shirt. He noticed if he concentrated, he could hear the faint sound of Eren’s heartbeat.  
  
It was deep, steady, yet calming; nothing like his, sounding like a racehorse on derby day most of the time. It reminded him of the ocean. Armin listened to the ocean, the slow drawl and wash of the waves. He listened to the last crackles of their dying fire, embers drifting on the sea breeze. He listened to the deep, soft breaths Eren took, chest leisurely rising and falling; and everything else, all his fears, insecurities, doubts, they all washed away. None of those things mattered. Armin’s last thought before he drifted off to the sound of Eren’s heart was that his best friend, the person he cared for most in all the world was here, and he loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I really like this AU so if you enjoy it and would like to see more, let me know and I may write some more oneshots in the future.  
> -Mel


End file.
